The absolute free alternative to Wordpress
When a lot of people first get into the “blogging” thing, they generally start with a completely free source like Google’s Blogger.  Using something like Blogger will allow you to create a blog with absolutely no cost and hassle attached, making it a convenient choice for many.  However, when you use something like Blogger, your blog is very restricted in what you can actually do with it.

Take it further!
Wordpress allows you to do so much more with your blog.  While Wordpress is free to download and install, it does require you to have your own web hosting and domain name, which you obviously need to pay for.  For Internet newbies, this whole “web hosting” and “domain” business can seem overwhelming.  This is especially true if you’ve been using something like Blogger, where the web hosting was essentially provided to you for free.

By using Wordpress you can get rid of this yoursite.blogspot.com sillyness.  Start telling people to follow your blog at YourSite.com because you actually have a real website now!

The process of actually getting started with Wordpress in a nutshell…

1. Buy a domain: A domain is your web address (i.e. yoursite.com)

2. Buy web hosting:  In order to have a website, the files that make up your website need to be stored on a web server.  You need to rent this from a web hosting company for a fee, plain and simple. Also, you need to make sure that your web hosting includes PHP/MySQL support (this is required for Wordpress and most standard web hosting packages include it).

3. Create a MySQL database:  This database is how Wordpress operates, by storing and receiving information from this database.  It can generally be set up wherever you log in to your web hosting company’s website (usually in a cPanel or PLESK interface).

4. Download Wordpress: Visit http://wordpress.org/download/ and download Wordpress for free.

5. Install Wordpress:  Upload Wordpress to your web server and install it.

Let me make it even simpler for you!
If you just read the 5 steps listed above and it just hit you that you have no idea what you’re doing, don’t worry!  We all had to start somewhere.  When I first got into the Internet biz, I didn’t know a domain from a blog, but here I am today!

GoDaddy actually offers Wordpress specific web hosting packages, where they will take care of setting up your domain, web hosting, and Wordpress Installation.  If you’re just starting out, go for the cheapest one they offer.  It costs $5/month and they set everything up for you!  If you start to get more traffic to your blog and you’re using more bandwidth, then you can always upgrade to a more expensive plan.  So, start cheap and see if you really enjoy the whole blogging thing.

I wish GoDaddy offered this when I made my first blog!

Click Here to see GoDaddy’s Wordpress hosting options.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

First of all, can you actually make money by having a blog on the Internet?
The answer is yes, of course, you can make money blogging! But it’s not as easy as it sounds.  It’s not as simple as just posting a blog and keeping it up-to-date.  Creating a website, writing blogs about something you know, and posting those blogs is the easy part.  The hard part is acquiring an audience.  The more Internet visitors you have to your blog, the more “blog money” you’re going to make.

It’s all about the advertising.  Your blog is like a TV show.  Build an audience and your advertising value will skyrocket.

So how can a blog make money after it’s been setup and has Internet users actually reading it?
From my experience, there are a variety of ways to make money with your blog, but let me give you the basic of the basic.

Pay Per Click (PPC) Advertising: These advertisements simply pay you every time they’re clicked.  Generally, they’re posted in the form of text advertisements.  It’s as simple as a company giving you a piece of HTML code that you copy and paste on your site, and relevant advertisements are automatically feed to your blog.  Google Adsense and Adbrite are examples of companies who offer you this service.

Affiliate Programs: Basically, you put an advertisement on your blog, and when someone follows your link and makes a purchase from your advertiser, you’re paid some sort of commission.  Commissions can be paid to you as a flat fee or a percentage of the sale.  Many companies offer affiliate programs to help promote their services and products.  To get started, try checking out some of the big name affiliate companies like Commission Junction, Links Share, and ClickBooth.

Advertising Space: Anyone can use PPC advertisements and affiliate programs on their blog, but when you get into the big time blogging and the traffic is flowing, you can step it up.  All of a sudden your advertising space becomes prime Internet real estate that can be rented out for a fee.  The formula is simple.  The more traffic you have consistently to your blog, the more your advertising space is worth.

If you have the time and the resources, you can manage your advertising space yourself.  However, I’ve always prefered to just let another company handle it so I don’t have to deal with it.  If you have multiple blogs and online ventures, this makes your blog money a little more automated.  For these types of services, check out BuySellAds.com.

I’m sure you can understand, at this point, why having a lot of people continuing to visit your blog can create a profitable outcome for you.  The more blog visitors you have, the greater your chances are of converting some advertising dollars.

Don’t stop with this blog post.  Use the above list as a starting point for your research.  Now that you have a basic overview, you can go back to Google and start learning more about what we’ve briefly covered.  There is blog money out there to be had. Now go get yours!

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.